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Account of an Excursion to Mount Katahdin. 3L 
shout of our comrades, who, thoroughly drenched, and much fa- 
tigued, soon arrived at camp. Mr. Barnes stated that the difficulty 
of the ascent increased greatly until he reached the ridge above the 
slide, along which he then proceeded without much trouble to the 
summit. On the very summit he found a fine bed of grass, and 
picked specimens of two plants, which I found to be Vaccinium uli- 
ginosum and Empetrum nigrum, both in fruit. He brought no spe- 
cimens of the grass. 
The summit rock, of which he brought down some specimens, is 
a reddish colored granite, containing small, well formed crystals of 
feldspar. It is stated in Williams’s History of Maine, that on Ka- 
tahdin, vegetation ceases a mile from the summit, and that the ele- 
vation is so great as to cause difficulty of breathing, as well as intense 
cold to be felt; Mr. Barnes contradicts this, having found vegetation 
on the summit, and not having perceived any great rarefaction of 
the air, or sensible reduction of temperature. 
It is evident from this, that the height of this mountain has been 
greatly overrated. It has been variously estimated at. from five 
thousand to six thousand four hundred feet above the level of the 
sea. It was our intention to have measured its height, but unfortu- 
nately we could not procure a mountain barometer either in Water- 
ville or Bangor. 
Before we descended from our camp, the clouds rose a little, so 
as to give us a fair view of some of the numerous lakes with which 
the region abounds. We could distinguish Millinoket, Debskonee- 
gan, Pemmidumkook, &c. In descending, we passed numerous 
horizontal terraces which appeared to extend along the flanks of the 
mountain beyond the slide. 
When we had descended nearly to the point where we had first 
entered the slide, we turned to the left, and pursued a southerly 
course ; but in the endeavor to avoid the swamp which the day pre- 
vious had caused us so much trouble, we lost our way and became 
entangled in several dense sphagnous swamps, in which was a thick 
growth of cedar, (T'huja occidentalis,) through which it was very 
difficult to effect a passage. Often we would completely lose sight 
of each other, and be obliged to shout to our guides to stop, for fear 
we might part company. ‘The heavy rain in the morning had com- 
pletely drenched the trees and bushes, so that every one we touch- 
sent down upon us a shower, which soon wet us to the skin. 
Climbing over fallen trees, stumbling at tangled roots, now by main 
